In black churches across the country Sunday, pastors and parishioners tried to reconcile their hope to elect Sen. Barack Obama president with their respect for his controversial former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

At New Bethel Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., Brittany Wood, 22, an Obama supporter, said the flap hasn't changed her mind, but she thinks the Illinois senator may lose votes of the undecided.

"It may have an effect if they're looking at what he's saying and the company he keeps," she says. "I think, for people opposing him … it's fuel to the fire."

Obama severed his ties to Wright at a news conference last Tuesday, decrying his longtime minister's latest remarks as "a bunch of rants that aren't grounded in the truth."

In March, in a speech on race prompted by controversy over Wright's past sermons, Obama said he disagreed with some of the pastor's views but could not disown the man who performed his marriage and baptized his children.

His feelings changed after he viewed tapes of Wright speaking Monday at the National Press Club, where he defended Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Wright also suggested that U.S. actions abroad promoted terrorism, and that the government was capable of creating the AIDS virus to kill blacks.

In Detroit, Nicholas Hood, senior minister at Plymouth United Church of Christ, said Obama made the right move.

He said the controversy is confusing for those who don't understand how some followers can support both men.

"We need the Jeremiah Wrights of the world to remind the world to be fair," Hood said. "One represents the past; the other, the future.

"Deep down inside … we need both," he said.

Walter Fauntroy, who was an aide to Martin Luther King Jr. and serves as pastor at New Bethel in Washington, devoted his sermon to the issue. He said Obama's opponents could not unearth other controversies against him so they focused on his retired pastor. Obama handled it effectively, he said.

Then, last week, "Jeremiah gave (Obama's) opponents the gift that keeps on giving," Fauntroy said.

He said Wright spoke the truth about the struggles of blacks in this country, but, citing the Bible's Book of Ecclesiastes, "there is a time to keep silent and a time to speak."

The congregation erupted in cheers, claps and "Amens."

Print and broadcast news media were a particular target of churchgoers, including attorney Archie Rich, who said they have amplified and sensationalized the rift between Obama and Wright.

"I think the media … attempted to make Rev. Wright a kind of surrogate for Obama's campaign," said Rich, 40, who was attending services at Harlem's historic Abyssinian Baptist Church. "I think Barack has made it clear enough, again and again, that (Wright's) remarks aren't in any way representative of his ideals. I don't know what more he can say."

Rich said the focus damaged Obama's campaign as well as Wright's reputation.

"It distracts from the … importance of focusing on issues more germane to the kind of leadership this country needs," Rich said.

At the heart of the controversy, said Graylan Hagler, senior minister at Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, are issues about race that the country has yet to solve.

"What we really realize is there is a schism not just between black and white, but between people of color and the dominant culture," Hagler said. "The viewpoints are not the same, and we have to resist trying to homogenize each other. … It also shows white America may consider a black man as president, but it does not want a black president."

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